1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to Internet infrastructures; and, more particularly, to distribution of surveys and processing data from surveys.
2. Related Art
Widespread usage of mobile devices (or cell phones) and vastly improved performance of these mobile devices allow programmers to envisage evermore sophisticated applications to be written. Many of today's mobile devices run on a platform of operating systems written specifically for them, and have multiple applications written to be run using these operating systems. These applications include (other than voice communication) keeping record of appointments and schedules, storing addresses, presenting calendars, surfing Internet, playing games among many other, and can be run from any convenient location.
Today's mobile devices play music and other audio clips (such as mp3), and also play video clips and movies (such as mp4). They can be networked with external devices such as other mobile phones, laptops and personal computers via infrared or Bluetooth. They can also communicatively couple with external servers via Internet using Wi Fi interfaces and built in modems.
Mobile devices come with wide variety of features, some have small screens and few soft (programmable) keys while many others have larger screens with multiple soft keys. They are also available with alpha numeric keyboards or with keypad on the screen that are operated using a stylus.
Application for these mobile devices are written using one of many programming languages available, and some of these applications are capable of processing content provided as XML (eXtensible Markup Language) documents. These applications or programs may be built into the hardware (ASIC or embedded applications, for example), using permanent memories of these mobile devices. They can also be downloaded into the devices using a flash memory or from an external server via Internet. Then, they can be run on mobile devices once downloaded and when the applications are no longer required, they can be erased automatically or manually. These programs accomplish many tasks such as managing daily tasks, assisting marketing, keeping data and files stored, managing databases etc.
Quite often, product marketing organizations and branding companies send product information to people over common postal services. Such means of distributing product information is expensive and time consuming. Often, marketing organizations send product preference inquiries, questionnaires, and user surveys to people who have purchased one of their products. Typically recipients ignore them as they have very limited incentives to complete them and return them for the time and energy it takes to complete them, mail them at a port office, etc. Thus marketing companies have limited success in getting questionnaires and surveys answered by people to whom they have mailed them. Recently, some marketing companies have resorted to emailing surveys to their customers. Such surveys get lost in the plethora of emails and junk mail people usually receive in their email box. Thus, the success rate is only marginally better than sending such questionnaires and surveys out by regular post. A better mechanism is needed that ensures a better response rate for such questionnaires and surveys. Even when a survey sent out to a user via regular post is received back with a user's response, it has to be scanned by a scanning machine to enter into a database, or manually processed for data entry into a database for subsequent processing/analysis. Both options are expensive needing new equipment or data entry systems and often involve human intervention/processing. Quite often, the long multiple question surveys sent over email to a user are not compatible with a mobile phone, and often unusable from a mobile phone due to limited screen sizes and almost unusable (if not cumbersome and limiting) on a mobile phone with small keyboard and keys to which 3 or 4 letters are mapped (overloaded keys on keyboard).
Often, questionnaires, which comprise a list of questions, usually in printed form, are submitted to one or more individuals for replies that can be analyzed for usable information subsequently. Gathering responses from questionnaires involves a lot of human intervention and costs in terms of equipment costs and personnel costs. Questionnaires are often a form containing a set of questions, especially one addressed (sent) to a statistically significant number of subjects, as a way of gathering information for a survey on some specific topic/issue. To conduct a survey of an issue often involves gathering a sampling, or partial collection, of facts, figures, or opinions taken and using that to approximate or indicate what a complete collection and analysis might reveal. Conducting a survey often involves sending questionnaires and gathering responses and analyzing them.
Often, when a survey response is received, it is not accompanied by any information or very limited information, such as a user's name, about the responder. Thus, it is not possible to discern much about the user and about why the user has responded the way the user did. Users are also reluctant to provide a lot of personal details over and over again for different surveys and questionnaires. Polling related questionnaires and election issue related questionnaires, in particular, are of very limited use because not much is known about the responder.
These and other limitations and deficiencies associated with the related art may be more fully appreciated by those skilled in the art after comparing such related art with various aspects of the present invention as set forth herein with reference to the figures.